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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26917657">Protagonist</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/MuffyKastel/pseuds/MuffyKastel'>MuffyKastel</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pokemon - Fandom</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Death of a Personality, Friendship, Gen, Gens 1-5, Light Namelessshipping, Meta, Player Character Horror, Pokemon Special References, Pokespe References, Reality Bending, game-verse</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 02:07:21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,442</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26917657</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/MuffyKastel/pseuds/MuffyKastel</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>There’s a life before the story and it’s been robbed the minute you hit “Start”.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Haruka | May &amp; Yuuki | Brendan, Hibiki | Ethan &amp; Kotone | Lyra, Hikari | Dawn &amp; Kouki | Lucas, Ookido Green | Blue Oak &amp; Red</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Protagonist</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Originally posted to FF.net in 2019; this version has been re-edited. </p>
<p>A fic idea I've had ever since I was a kid, so I wanted to write it out in my endless musings and wonderings.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p>
<p>
  <span class="u">
    <strong>Gen I.</strong>
  </span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>“A chatty gossip like you…”</em>
</p>
<p>Those are words that no longer apply and Green knows it as he stares his rival down. Red gazes at him stiffly and silently, with crimson eyes that hold nothing.</p>
<p>When <em>was</em> the last time Red spoke?</p>
<p>He hadn’t heard the boy’s voice since they got their starters in the lab.</p>
<p>Red had gone utterly silent that day and his bold, lively eyes that Green saw previously had dulled. And the strange thing was, everyone acted like it was normal. People ‘talked’ and ‘conversed’ with Red like he was speaking back. But Green heard nothing, not even a whisper escape the boy’s lips.</p>
<p>When they battled, Red had also said nothing but his Pokemon carried out their acts dutifully. Green didn’t think that was too weird though, as he’s heard of trainers having a bond with their Pokemon so strong that they never had speak orders. But what <em>did</em> worry Green was the way Red’s eyes looked.</p>
<p>There was no compassion, no heart, and most importantly no soul. Yet everyone said there was. Green wondered what everyone else saw and wishes he could see it too.</p>
<p>He wants to ask about Red’s silence. But every time something compels him not too and to carry on as usual with his snide remarks and snickers.</p>
<p>Maybe, this <em>was</em> normal<em>.</em></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span class="u">
    <strong>Gen 2. (?)</strong>
  </span>
</p>
<p>Lyra is scared of the boy that lived near the professor’s lab.</p>
<p>She swore up and down his name was Ethan. She lived in the same town as him all her life, played with him constantly and suddenly his name is Gold.</p>
<p>When? How? She cannot recall. Everyone’s insisting on it.</p>
<p>And it all started on the day he got his first Pokemon. It’s the day she’ll never forget because it’s a reminder that she lost her best friend. She lost the boy that played with her on evenings, the one that urged her to go into the tall grass for fun, and the one she would get scolded with for attempting to do so.</p>
<p>It’s also the day he called her Kris.</p>
<p>And the day where he went silent right after calling her that.</p>
<p>She acts like everything’s normal, she’s essentially forced to. Every time she tries to talk about it with her mom or <em>his </em>mom, something silences her. It’s like the universe is willing her mouth shut and she hates it.</p>
<p>She carries on conversations with him like he responds. Why she does this, she’ll never know. Maybe a part of her wants her old friend back, to bring the life back to his sullied eyes. Or maybe the lord Arceus makes her act like this, like all the others that treat this as normal. Are the others aware of this change but aren’t allowed the voice it? The idea haunts her.</p>
<p>Lyra can only hope that one day his eyes will glow like the sun again. Maybe after enough battles, accomplishments, and recognition they will.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span class="u">
    <strong>Gen 3.</strong>
  </span>
</p>
<p>Her name is May.</p>
<p>That’s what Brenden was told briefly by his father about the girl that was supposed to move in next door. Her father was going to become the gym leader of the nearby Petalburg city, so he was interested in seeing what kind of trainer this girl would turn out to be-if she even decided to become a trainer that is. Contests were becoming very popular in Hoenn too. He wondered if they were a thing in Johto.</p>
<p>On the day she arrives to Littleroot, he meets her, oddly enough standing in his room.  </p>
<p>And for some reason his brain registers her as Sapphire. He talks even though she doesn’t; he carries on an impossible string of dialogue as if she’s responding.</p>
<p>Now Brendan isn’t one to questions things too much. He was just feeling nervous, that’s all. Trying to talk to a girl with such a stone cold stare is awkward to say the least. Thankfully, she seemed to understand and do what was expected of her.</p>
<p><em>It’s nothing really</em>, he thinks. Everyone’s different he supposes and Sapphire is just one of them. Another unique person that lives in this diverse world. She’s amazingly talented, going through Hoenn collecting badges, doing contests and filling the Pokedex. She even took down two evil organizations!</p>
<p>Yes, Brendan decides. She may be a little odd but she’s a good girl.</p>
<p>Yet a part of him wonders if she was always like this. After all, where did ‘May’ come from?</p>
<p>What an odd mix-up of names, if he’s ever heard of one.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span class="u">
    <strong>Gen 4.</strong>
  </span>
</p>
<p>Lucas surveys the two kids in front of him curiously. Well, they aren’t really kids; he isn’t much older than him of course. Heck, they could be the same age for all he knew. It didn’t take much qualifications to become Professor Rowan’s assistant in the age department.</p>
<p>The blond boy, Barry, is excitable and jumpy. Clearly eager to get his first Pokemon and Lucas can already tell he’s going to be like those stereotypical hot-headed trainers. Good-natured though, for sure. Barry has this type of flame in his eyes that’s filled with passion.</p>
<p>The girl next to him however, does not. Platinum, as she’s called, remains ever so silent as the conversation progresses and it unnerves him. But Professor Rowan sees something in her that makes him want to give her a Pokemon. If Lucas were in charge, he’d be hesitant to trust anyone with such a lifeless gaze to handle a life.</p>
<p>Something about her stare puts him off and as much as he wants to voice his concerns, something else tells him to go along with it and trust his professor. Rowan always had good judgement.</p>
<p>They send the two kids off on their journey and Lucas pitches in now and again to help Platinum when she’s in trouble. Though by the looks of it when they’re battling Team Galactic, she really doesn’t need his help. Her Pokemon take care of them easily and she’s already proved herself to be a pretty competent trainer. It irks him at how well she does this, almost like she has the experience of an Ace Trainer or a Veteran. Lucas tries to convince himself that she’s just a prodigy but nothing feels right about that. He did some digging into her background and found out her mother was the famous coordinator, Joanna.</p>
<p>While that explains her later contest winning streak in Hearthome, it doesn’t explain her battling prowess. He also looked into Barry’s background and saw his dad was Palmer, the Battle Frontier’s Tower Tycoon. Perhaps he taught her in her childhood? But it still doesn’t add up, being a part of the Battle Frontier meant constantly traveling and never going home. There was no way, no time for Palmer to teach her.</p>
<p>And when Platinum takes down Team Galactic, it hits him.</p>
<p>He hates her and the plain, dead look on her face.</p>
<p>A girl like that…what secrets is she hiding? Why is she so <em>good</em>?</p>
<p>Why is she everything Lucas could not be?</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <span class="u">
    <strong>Gen. 5 (?)</strong>
  </span>
</p>
<p>Green is shocked when he sees of all people, Red, standing in front of his gym. He was just going to get some lunch for him and his gym trainers and the damn minute he opens the door, the former Kanto champion is eyeing him down.</p>
<p>There are whispers all around them, questions like <em>‘I can’t believe it’s Red!’</em> and <em>‘what’s he doing here?’</em> surround them. And for Green, looking into Red’s eyes makes him feel like the world has been frozen. The same empty look is on his face, the same look that haunts Green ever since they were eleven. It says something that even after all the battles and accomplishments, Red never did looked the same as he did when they were young.</p>
<p>It was the same look that Gold kid wore on his face too. Green wondered where he was. Probably replaced Red up on Mt. Silver or something.</p>
<p>And Green can’t help but take a mild step back when Red opens his mouth.</p>
<p>“In Unova…” The raven-haired boy stops short of a moment when he hears gasps around them. There’s still people watching and Green irritatingly stomps his foot down to get them to scatter. Red doesn’t seem to notice or care as much that they’re gone and continues to speak as if Green did nothing.</p>
<p>“…there’s a world tournament.” He stops for a moment and says rather thoughtfully, “We should go.”</p>
<p>And for the first time in years, Green genuinely grins at the boy he long thought of being dead internally.</p>
<p>His eyes have never looked brighter.  </p>
<p>.</p>
<p>.</p>
<p>.</p>
<p>FIN.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Nowadays, I just like to think the player characters are actually talking or just mute. Anyways, my author's notes on FF.net give a more detailed, casual explanation but for here, I'll write this:</p>
<p>[1] Green's line at the start is what sparked my childish wonder. Like, "Hmm...he says I'm chatty but my character never talks...but what if before I started playing the game...?" And of course, this idea snowballed from there into this fic all these years later. </p>
<p>[2] The 'Gen 2' section is HG/SS, which would make it Gen 4, but for the sake of not overlapping gen's I labelled it as such. And of course, with the reference to Kris, the player is obviously aware of the former female protag that got replaced.</p>
<p>[3] I got inspired by Pokespe quite a bit. I like to think of the sudden name switch as of when the game starts and the sudden input of the player’s name.</p>
<p>[4] Lucas is vaguely aware that's supposed to the male protagonist, but alas, he's stuck as an NPC in Dawn/Platinum's run. Trust me Lucas, you're better off this way. </p>
<p>[5] This was meant to be a two-shot and go into B/W proper, but I couldn't decide on which protag I wanted to use (both of them seemed equally viable) and I couldn't think of anything for B2W2, so I just decided to jump back to Red and Green. The PWT saved me some trouble there. Gen 6 and 7 were never planned for this because of the differing timeline stuff. </p>
<p>[6] And finally, Lyra and Green's second final lines are my favorites. </p>
<p>Anyways, thanks for reading!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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